In Indonesia’s crammed capital city Jakarta, space is a luxury, including for the dead.
As a lack of available land in the city’s 661-square-kilometer area has restricted development for city accommodation for the living, a similar problem has also affected those who have died.
Of Jakarta’s 84 public cemeteries, at least 16 could no longer open new burial plots, according to the head of the funeral service unit at the Jakarta Forestry Agency, Ricky Putra. The 16 public cemeteries are located in Central Jakarta, East Jakarta and West Jakarta. The policy was taken as the cemeteries were overcrowded and located in densely packed residential areas and business centers.
The cemeteries, however, still accept burials by burying the newer dead bodies on top of the older plots. The agency, which oversees cemeteries in the city, allows new dead bodies to be sta...